Andreas Mogensen’s mission name links cosmos and Earth

Andreas in survival training

28 April 2014

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen’s mission next year to the International Space Station now has a name: iriss. The winning proposal was submitted by Filippo Magni, from Italy, and was selected from over 700 suggestions received from across Europe.

The name for Andreas’ 10-day mission combines Iris and ISS. Iris was a Greek goddess, the messenger of the gods of Olympus and the personification of the rainbow. As messenger, she represents the link between humanity and the cosmos, and between the heavens and Earth.

The name also combines the rainbow – a symbol of peace – with Andreas’ scientific and technology demonstration mission to the Space Station.

The winning name was announced by Andreas yesterday in Copenhagen at the Science Forum, part of the Danish national science fair.

Space science fosters understanding

Andreas Mogensen

Andreas talked about his mission before an audience of almost 1100, and announced a new Danish national competition to design his mission logo.

“It was great to be able to make the announcement at an event where so many young students enthusiastic about science could participate,” he said.

“Science has been a bridge between East and West, helping to foster peace and understanding. The name iriss perfectly captures this aspect of the ISS.”

His time on the Space Station will focus on testing and demonstrating new technologies such as ESA’s Skinsuit, which aims to alleviate backpain.

Andreas is an engineer by education who worked on ESA projects such as Swarm and lunar missions before becoming an astronaut in 2009.

ISS: outstanding example of international cooperation

Filippo Magni is a 20-year-old student of aerospace engineering at Politecnico di Milano. He’s always been passionate about space and, as a child, was fascinated by the gorgeous pictures coming from interplanetary missions and the Hubble Space Telescope.

Announcing iriss name in Copenhagen

“The rainbow is a universal symbol of peace and I like to think of the ISS as a rare and outstanding example of peace and international cooperation,” says Filippo.

“The figure of Iris the messenger matches the role of the astronauts who have the task of transmitting their special experience in orbit to those who remain here on Earth.”

The winning name was selected from among many hundreds of excellent submissions in a Europe-wide contest announced by ESA in March. As winner, Filippo will receive a framed mission logo signed by Andreas.

Related articles

Name that mission04 March 2014
ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will be venturing to the International Space Station next year. He is training as the flight engineer on the Soyuz spacecraft that will fly 400 km above Earth but his mission does not have a name – yet.

Seatest underwater adventure30 September 2013
ESA astronauts Andreas Mogensen and Thomas Pesquet returned from Florida last week after taking part in Seatest – NASA’s underwater testbed for working in space.

Andreas Mogensen set for Soyuz mission to Space Station in 201528 August 2013
Update 16 April 2015: launch now set for 1 September 2015.
ESA's Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen has been assigned to be launched on a Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in September 2015 for a mission to the International Spac...